Inversed Qualities
by Shaun Garin
Summary: [Crossover - Harry Potter][HPAUverse] Given a glimpse into another Alternate Universe, we see a Hermione who has had a unique upbringing in lifestyle.


Inversed Qualities

written by Shaun Garin

Slayers is owned by Tokyo TV and Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling.

* * *

Chapter 1 : Little Girl Lost

* * *

"One, two, three and smile!"

A click of a flashbulb and the whirring of a camera could be heard as Everett Granger stood up and smiled at the woman and little girl stood in front of the massive stone Dolmen structure of Stonehenge. "That's the last of the film," said Everett.

Melody Granger nodded as she held the tiny hand of the little girl in her own. "This was a nice place to visit. Do you like it Hermione?"

Hermione looked up at her parents and nodded. "Yes momma," she replied.

"I certainly like it here," said Everett, looking about as he wandered around the ruins of Stonehenge. The rest of the tour group still milled around, taking pictures and pointing out various formations. "The air feels charged. Alive with energy."

"Oh Everett," admonished Melody. "There's nothing strange about Dolman formations."

"But think of the work put into it," said Everett. "The massive blue rock hauled from somewhere up in Wales, the sheer construction quality..."

"You sound like an architect, dear," Melody said, her tone light and teasing. "Don't you agree Hermione?"

But when Melody looked down, Hermione was not there. Instead, she was clambering up onto the middle formation. "Hermione Granger, come down from there this instant!" Melody exclaimed, walking over to pluck the child from her perch.

Suddenly, there was a scream and a brilliant flash of green light. The Grangers whirled to see a group of dark cloaked men or women with white deaths head masks. They were leveling what seemed like sticks at the people who were running. The sticks in turn, were shooting various colors of light. One, a sickly green color in nature, rushed overhead and struck the Dolmen formation. The rocks flashed and glowed upon the impact.

"All muggles must die!" the leader roared, his voice low and sinister as he leveled his wand at the middle of the formation where the Grangers hovered protectively in front of Hermione who was sitting in the middle of the formation, wide eyes surprised. "Avada Kedavra!"

"Look out!" Everett shouted, pushing his wife away from the spell. He reached out to grab his daughter who screamed loudly at the rushing sound.

Suddenly, Stonehenge lit up like a festival as the rocks flashed and glowed. The Killing Curse exploded upon a rainbow pillar of light that flared upwards around the child and expanded outwards.

The man cursed and shouted, "Fall back!" He vanished with a crack, but not before he uttered a word and sent up a greenish mark of a skull with a snake coming out of it's mouth.

"Momma!" Hermione wailed from inside the pillar of light.

Melody scrambled to her feet as she tried to reach into the light, but yelped in pain as the energies snapped at her. "Hermione, no!"

"Momma! Daddy!" In a flash of light, the girl was gone as the maelstrom of energies faded away from Stonehenge.

* * *

"Magical storm," remarked Luna Inverse as she looked out the window. The sky had darkened to an ugly shade of violet as lightning crashed around a nexus point. Mentally calculating the touchdown point of the storm, she turned to Lina who was resting with her feet up, her hands wrapped around a large mug of hot chocolate. "Lina, be a dear and go and get your husband. There's a magical storm brewing outside and I think it's dropping something off."

Lina sighed. It was a simple request, something her sister wouldn't have asked her to do if it was not important. "All right. Gourry!"

"Yes Lina?" Gourry asked, popping into the room almost instantly.

"Grab your sword. There's something coming down near the Fairy Circle." Lina grabbed her cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Keep the fire going, sis," Lina said as she headed out the door.

Luna nodded, but otherwise did not turn away from the window where the storm was reaching an apex.

* * *

"Honestly, she could have gone out herself," Lina grumbled as she stalked through the underbrush towards the Fairy Circle. Gourry walked behind her, still holding onto his sword that was slung over one shoulder.

"What's so important about a magical storm?" Gourry asked.

Lina sighed as she pushed a branch out of the way. "A magical storm can be caused by any magical incident such as a summoning or a breach between worlds. The Pillar of Light was an example of a highly focused storm. Something or someone could be summoning something powerful. But the storm is too unfocused to be anything but a casual summoning or a tear."

Gourry scratched his head. He didn't profess to know everything Lina told him. He had even forgotten what he had for that morning's breakfast without some heavy recollection. But he did know that he had to trust Lina. After all, they were married for all of one year. Marriage, however did not curb the famous Inverse Temper. "If you say so, Lina."

With a final thrust of Lina's small sword, she parted her way into the clearing. Gourry followed quickly after and almost bumped into Lina. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Lina put away her sword as she walked over and murmured, "Poor thing. She must have been dragged here by the storm."

A little girl lay on the ground in the middle of the formation. She was shivering with the old and the sudden shock of transference. Lina picked up the girl and wrapped her cloak around her. "What's your name little one?"

The girl looked at the ruby eyed girl and sniffled. She said something unfamiliar, but a word stood out. Hermione.

"Sounds like archaic Testabournian," Gourry said as the girl looked at him and said something, pointing to his long blonde hair. "I remember Uncle Roudy speaking some of this before. Um..." Gourry strained his memory and asked in the same language, though haltingly, " Are you all right "

The little girl's eyes widened and started to babble in rapid archaic Testabournian. Gourry nodded, despite the translation giving him a massive headache. He wasn't used to thinking at such a fast level.

"She said her name is Hermione," Gourry said, switching back to Zephilian, the commonly spoken tongue of the area. "Bad men attacked her mommy and daddy."

"Ask her if they're in the area," Lina said. She had an itch to kill something for leaving a little girl like this in the cold.

Gourry asked the girl in his same halting rough Testabournian and the girl replied. Gourry shook his head. "She said the Bad Men must have gotten them."

"Oooh," Lina uttered, wishing she had something to kill rather quickly. "They had better stay hidden."

Gourry muttered "Scary" before adding, "We should get back. Looks like a real storm is about to hit."

"Yeah, you're right," said Lina as she hefted the girl in her arms. "C'mon kiddo. We'll get some food into you."

* * *

Seven Years Later...

* * *

The front door slammed rather loudly as a loud "Mom!" rang through the air of the house.

"In here, Hermione," called out Lina from the kitchen. She was currently making herself a snack which consisted of a sandwich that was at least five times larger than her mouth.

A bushy haired girl stormed into the room and snagged an apple from the basket. "Bad day at the College?" Lina asked her daughter, knowing that she had moods and days like that.

"The worst," said Hermione as she bit savagely into the fruit. "Those idiots," she said, waving her hand negligently, "decided that I wasn't a real girl because I could kick their asses at both magic and swordplay."

Lina suppressed a snicker. She remembered those days at the Zephilia Mages Guild when she was only thirteen. Of course, by then, she had earned the name of The Enemy Of All Who Live. "Give them some time," said Lina as she forced half the Sandwich down her throat in two tremendous bites. "When they start calling you stuff like The Dragon Spooker, then you can blast them."

"Ugh," said Hermione, finishing her fruit off. "Where's Dad?"

"At work of course," said Lina as she downed a glass of water to chase down the dry sandwich. "You know, someone has to bring in money while I man the shop."

"Hey, I bring in money!" Hermione protested.

"I'm sure the local Bandit Gangs will be happy to hear that you make up for a third of the Inverse-Gabriev Family income," said Lina, raising an eyebrow.

Hermione went red. "I didn't tell anyone, how did you know?"

"Simple. There's a smell of charred flesh on your t-shirts," replied Lina with a smile. "I was young and ready to smite Bandits when I was your age." Lina then frowned and said, "Do you still use the Dragon Slave on them?"

"Um, not often," said Hermione, looking distinctly uncomfortable. She then wilted under her mother's gaze. "All right, I've used it twice in the last two weeks."

Lina grinned. "Good!"

Hermione did a double take. "Good? Mom, I used an overkill spell on BANDITS of all people! Why would you..." A pause, "Never mind, I just answered my own question."

"If you can't fireball them, you Slave them," pointed out Lina. "Now c'mon, you have homework to study for if you want to learn that Ra Tilt before tomorrow. You're turning Fourteen, and we want the mages guild to be knocked off their socks."

A sigh. "Yes mother."

"And don't take that tone of voice with me, young lady. It's mom, not all that formal crap."

* * *

A surly elderly man stood at the head of the graduation ceremony as he called out names. One by one, each person walked up from a small group in the front of the Guild's auditorium. They were then asked to demonstrate a spell from at least three disciplines of Shamanistic magic, one white and one black magic spell.

Hermione nibbled at her lower lip in thought. Sure, she knew her stuff. Was probably the most intelligent girl of her year, amidst all of the older twenties to thirties men and women around the Guild, but she couldn't help feel nervous at the prospect of getting her color.

"Gabriev, Hermione," called out the man at the front of the podium.

Hermione pushed her way through the throng amidst wild cheering from her family. Her mother and father were there of course, but also Aunt Luna and her Grandma and Grandpa Inverse attended the ceremony. In the midst of the group stood a tall man and a somewhat petite woman, both in traveling cloaks. The man was a grey stone man and the woman was fair skinned with dark hair and wide eyes. They were Uncle Zelgadis and Aunt Amelia respectively.

The pair had eloped several years ago before Hermione arrived in the world and married without the consent of Prince Phil. Philionel was obviously upset at his other daughter leaving the royal court, but they soon came back and staged one of Sailoon's Bloodless Coups, much to the relief of Phil who was getting too old to rule properly. The burly Prince stood in the crowd, cheering as wildly as the rest.

Two others marked a welcome presence, though many detested the man who stood in the crowd. The Mazoku known as Xellos was one, a trickster priest who had taught her most of her more powerful Black Magic Spells on the fly, and Filia his somewhat estranged lover. Those two couldn't be in the same room for more than fifteen minutes without bloodshed occurring. It was on mutual agreement that the pair would be civil for their Favorite Niece's Color Ceremony.

Aunt Sylphiel had also come from Sairaag where they had to repair it once again several years ago. She looked a bit more worn, but had a smile on her face as she watched Hermione.

Hermione took a deep breath as the man in front of her stepped out of her way and started rattling off the list of spells required for demonstration.

After five tense minutes, and a final Blast Ash that scoured the sand off of the training dummy, the man turned to her and said, "Miss Hermione Gabriev, I proclaim you, Hermione Gabriev the Grey. Congratulations."

As Hermione stepped down, newly christened, she cheered wildly as her family swept her up for a grand celebration. After all, the examiner was the same man who had given Lina her own color. A color that Lina kept secret all but to her family. It wasn't good for the reputation to be known as Lina Inverse, the Pink.

* * *

"Well, congratulations Hermione," said Xellos as he caught the girl outside of the festivities at the Gabriev home. "I wanted to congratulate you here, before I go inside."

"Too much good feelings?" Hermione jibed as her uncle winced.

"More or less," replied Xellos with a chuckle. "I can't see how your uncle Zelgadis stands being around your aunt."

"It's a talent I suppose," replied Hermione. "Thanks Uncle." She gave the Mazoku a quick hug before skipping into the room.

Xellos smiled, shuddered from the good emotions and went in to enjoy the party. As he walked in, Filia looked at him over the food and raised an eyebrow. "Are you still trying to corrupt her, Namagomi?"

The word Raw Garbage had become something of a pet name between the pair, despite their differences. Xellos smirked and reached for the tea. "Alas, like Lina, she's too stubborn to ever become a Mazoku of her own free will."

"I thought you could turn someone without them giving up their soul for it," remarked Amelia as she reached for a drumstick. She sat on the other side of the table, next to Zelgadis who was sipping at his coffee.

"True, but it's not much fun, now is it?" Xellos replied, a cunning smirk on his face. "Though I suppose the majority of the Mazoku population would run in stark terror if an Inverse happened to turn to the darkness."

There was a general chuckling across the table as the Gabrievs fought over the food. Zelgadis looked over the bushy haired girl who fought over a giant leg of lamb with her father. "The more I look at her, the more I wonder how Lina could have ever stood raising a girl like that."

"That would be obvious, because Lina conveniently missed the diaper era of the childraising," said Xellos, sipping at his tea. "Speaking of which, Filia found something for her."

Filia scowled at her lover before pulling out a large leather bound book. "It's a spell, using a magic circle like the one Hermione appeared in eight years ago. I took a trip to the ruins of the Fire Dragon Temple and found it in the old archives. I think we might be able to open a portal back to Hermione's own world."

China rattled as Lina jumped to her feet. "Hold on a minute!" the red head protested. "I am not letting my daughter go on a joyride to another world! We had enough trouble with the people of Dark Star's world. I say no."

"Interdimensional travel hasn't been realized yet. It's only a theory." Zelgadis took a long pull of his coffee. "She could wind up on another plane of existence in our own world, much less some other world. People have tried it, only to find them halfway across the world, or even sometimes in two pieces from some type of accident."

"That's definitely why I don't want her taking this sort of risk!" Lina exclaimed. "She just turned fourteen for Cephied's sake! I..." Lina's throat constricted as she swallowed hard. "I don't want to loose her."

Hermione looked at her mother and sighed. "Mom..."

"Just... give me some time to think about this, okay?" With that, Lina abandoned her food as Gourry watched his wife go.

The Gabriev Patriarch leaned over and said, "Hermione, your mother is just upset about loosing you. If the spell goes awry, we may never see you again. Don't worry. She's not angry at you."

"Yeah, but sometimes, I wonder if she's angry at herself." Hermione said, her voice soft.

* * *

Lina stared out of the window, hugging herself. Strong arms embraced her as she leaned into Gourry's arms. "I don't want to loose her, Gourry. She's my daughter, no matter what."

"We both know that," replied Gourry. "But she IS of age now. It's about time Hermione makes her own decisions. The best thing we can do is to stand by her side, and her decisions either we like it or not."

Lina smiled as she made a little sound. "Where did the idiot I married go in the last eight years?"

"I've been here," Gourry replied, hugging his wife close. "I've just... learned a few things. That's all."

"There's something you don't hear every day," said Lina with a smile.

Neither of them got any sleep that night. For that matter, neither did Hermione who laid awake, half listening to her parents and half thinking of the place far beyond her own world.

But mostly thinking of how she'll have to research a silencing spell.

* * *

The next morning was a bit somber as the family prepared for the new day. As Hermione came down the stairs, dressed in her casual blue t-shirt and mothers old pants that fit a bit too snugly for her fathers taste, Lina looked up and said, "Good morning Hermione. Eat up. You have a big day ahead of you."

Hermione blinked, surprised that her mother was still rather chipper that morning since the nasty shock the day before. "What's up?" she asked, not trusting the tone of her mothers voice. When Lina sounded nice and sweet, it usually precluded her or Gourry doing something for her that usually involved physical pain.

"Hermione," said Lina, nibbling at her bottom lip, "your father and I have discussed some things and came to a decision. If you want to try the transdimensional spell, we'll stand behind you all the way."

Hermione's silverware rattled as the girl startled at the declaration. "Are... are you serious mom?" she breathed.

"Yes, but you're coming straight home afterwards, is that clear young lady?" Suddenly, Lina found herself with an armful of Hermione as the younger Inverse swung her petite mother around in a giddy glee.

"Thank you mom!" squealed Hermione. "I, oh, I gotta get ready!" With that, she bolted upstairs, ran back down, bolted down her food and dashed back upwards in a whirlwind that made Lina dizzy.

"I take it you told her," said Gourry who sat at the kitchen table, sipping some hot chocolate, completely ignored by the female Inverses.

Lina giggled as she slipped into the chair next to Gourry and picked up her own fork. "I think this will work out after all."

* * *

After a large Inverse-sized breakfast, the three set out towards the Fairy Circle where Hermione had appeared so many years ago. Standing there already was Zelgadis, Amelia, Filia and surprisingly Xellos who carried the large tome. Hermione hugged every one of them, including Xellos who took it like a man and did not wince.

As Filia started to glow with a soft golden light and Xellos with a black light, Hermione stood in the middle of the Fairy Circle and opened the tome to the bookmarked page. "Well, this is it," she said as she secured a magical tether to her middle, provided by Amelia who was tearing up at her favorite niece leaving.

"It's not forever," said Gourry comfortingly as he laid a hand on Lina's shoulder. Lina smiled up at her husband and then at Hermione.

"You keep safe, okay?" called out Lina as Hermione found the spell on the page.

"I will!" chirped Hermione. With Filia and Xellos standing at north and south of the Fairy Circle, she chanted the spell that would activate the circle. There was a flash of black and white light and with that, the Fairy Circle flared green.

Hermione was lifted up into the air and seemed to vanish as the magical tether spun around in Amelia's hand. It spun around, loosing for a moment and then it went tight. Amelia nodded to herself. "There we go. Hermione must have secured her other end." Amelia then tied it to a stone next to the circle and said, "Now, we wait for the best."

* * *

Stonehenge was quiet that morning, most tour buses several hours away and a lack of population at the famous dolmen site provided nothing but the sound of the wind and the chirping of birds.

Suddenly, the rocks glowed and a green light burst from the center of it. Then, out of the middle, Hermione seemed to spin into view, seemingly unfolding from space. Touching down lightly, she brushed her frizzy brown hair out of her face and whistled. "I remember this place," she murmured as she looked around.

Unwrapping the tether from her waist, she secured it to a rock to keep the gate open. Lina had said for her to come right back. Hermione's grin widened as she chuckled. "What mom doesn't know won't hurt her," she murmured as she took to the air with an uttered Raywing.

As Hermione flew around the countryside, she passed several villages on her way heading south. Down below, she could feel several magical pinpricks, like there were sorcerers and magicians down below, living among the populace. It made her feel warm knowing that the natural currents of magic responded to her so well, and that were people down there that practiced magic.

To the northeast, she could feel a strong buzzing of magic. Nothing as strong as her mother's power, but still rather strong. It felt like a magical stronghold or place of teaching. Somewhere that the magical populace congregated like Sailoon or such. She felt tempted to go and visit the magical areas, but the citizen areas intrigued her.

Suddenly, she heard a loud rumbling sound and Hermione looked up. She yelped and ducked under the wing of a large plane that rumbled overhead towards some unknown destination. "THAT, I don't remember," said Hermione, her heart beating rapidly from the shock.

Trees and hills soon melted away from underneath Hermione as she flew in the opposite direction of where the plane had come from. Soon signs of civilization came into view. Some small villages, others larger towns. The edge of London soon came into view and Hermione grinned to herself. Nudging herself downwards, she zoomed down to the rooftop levels of London, giggling as people pointed at the flying girl in shock and awe.

In a gust of wind, Hermione alighted on the end of a smokestack as she cast a glance around the city. London hadn't changed much since her old memories had given her an impression of the city. It was still filled with people of all types and races. To the middle of London she could feel a strong barrier of magical energy. "Huh," Hermione muttered to herself as she flew towards the barrier.

Landing on a rooftop, she prodded the magical barrier. "Looks like someone's hiding something," Hermione said, tapping the barrier twice. It seemed to pulse slightly as she tapped it three times. Cracking her knuckles with an Inverse Smirk, she laid a hand on it. "Lets see what's underneath here."

Chaos Words flowed from her lips as she laid a hand on the barrier, her hand glowing with a light. "Flow Break!"

* * *

It was a street vendor that noticed the change in the wards. Hawking his wares on the street, there was a sudden roar of jet engines as a plane zoomed overhead. Snapping up his head towards the plane, a pidgeon of all things from OUTSIDE the barrier flew in and alighted on the awning atop of him. The vendor alerted the people and soon, Aurors had apparated into Diagon Alley.

"Make way, make way!" cried Kingsley Shacklebolt as he pushed past the panicking populace. With most of Diagon Alley revealed to the world, the wizarding community were in horrified shock. "Coming through, Auror Business!"

Joining the other Aurors and waving their wands in forming a new barrier, Shacklebolt turned to the nearest Auror and asked, "What's the status?"

"Not good," replied the Auror as he helped weave a new section of the wards. "The wards are down. Some kind of magical force behind it. Whatever it was, it was strong enough to dispel the hiding wards AND the Anti-Muggle Wards."

"Damn. Did that vendor see anything?"

"Nothing yet," said the Auror. Then, a cry was heard.

"There's a girl up there!" cried an Auror as he pointed to the amused sorceress sitting on top of the building nearest him, clearly outside the ward perimeter. She had an amused smile on her face as she waved cheekily.

"Bring her down for questioning!" yelled another. A third roared, "Stupify!"

The girl yelped and scrambled backwards. Suddenly, the Auror screamed and people scattered as the girl yelled something and a ball of flame flashed downwards from the girl. A bookstand was lit on fire as wizards turned to put the flames out.

Shacklebolt was, for once in his life stunned at the turn of events. More and more wizards, their fear gone from this unknown girl started shooting spells at her. The girl dodged quite easily and fired off bolts of fire, ice and even lightning. Diagon Alley was being blown apart from the highly destructive bolts of magic she was flinging. Most often than not, the wizards trying to help the Aurors did more damage than the girl did. Then, she grumbled to herself in another language and took to the skies with a cry.

"After her!" yelled another Auror. Shacklebolt turned to reprimand the man but found that several Aurors had grabbed brooms from the Quidditch Supply Shop and had took after her.

Casting a Sonorous spell, Shacklebolt called out. "All citizens put out the fires and defrost your friends! Aurors continue to cast the warding spells!" Shacklebolt shook his head at the damage one little girl had done and said under his breath, "Mad-Eye is going to have a field day with this." He then grabbed a broom offered to him and soared off after the pack of Aurors.

* * *

"Sheesh, won't these guys give up?" Hermione exclaimed, dodging another red bolt of energy. "Forget this, Fireball!"

The men on brooms had long since learned to dodge as one of them had been shot down in the early part of the fight. Hermione, separating the raywing spell from her mana stores, fired off several Flare Arrows followed by an explosive Fireball. Two went down but the rest simply leaned forward on their silly looking brooms and chased after her.

"Give me a break!" exclaimed Hermione as she pulled herself into a steep dive. Skimming the trees of a nearby forest and zooming over a lake, she chanted under her breath and yelled, "Demona Crystal!"

A wall of ice literally exploded upwards from the lake. The Aurors yelped and several of them crashed into the icy wall, booms smashing upon impact. She giggled to herself and suddenly had to yelp and pull herself into an upwards flight path. One of them was smarter than the other hired goons and had circled around. He took after her, firing that same red spell over and over.

Red bolts of energy flashed alongside her as she changed angles and sped across the landscape.

* * *

Shacklebolt grit his teeth. The girl flew like a pro Quidditch player WITHOUT the broom. It was questionable if he could catch him. But he was slowly gaining as the broom handed to him was a Firebolt. The top of the line model used by the International Quidditch League.

Changing tactics, Shacklebolt aimed a little in front of the girl and caused the ground to explode upwards in front of her. She twisted away from the explosion and flew backwards, hands outstretched. Shacklebolt pulled himself into a steep climb as the girl fired bolts of electricity at her. "Damn, she's good."

As he went into a steep dive that was reminiscent of a seeker going for the snitch, Shacklebolt found himself grinning despite himself. Whoever this little girl was, she obviously had a lot of power. And she knew enough to take down the Aurors with efficiency.

Crossing over the landscape, Shacklebolt grimaced. "Ottery St. Catchpole," he grimaced. "Did I chase her this far?"

* * *

Ron Weasley groaned as he put his homework down. Summer homework was never his favorite thing in the whole world and it showed. As he laid his head down to take a small nap, there was a tremendous explosion.

Wood and ancient piping exploded outwards, leaving a rather good sized hole in the wall and all the way clear across the hall and into the twins bedroom. The twins, Fred and George looked dumbfounded.

Suddenly a girl flew through the large opening and out the other side. An Auror flew after her on a Firebolt and tossed Ron a pouch of galleons with a hastily yelled "The ministry will pay for it!" And then they were gone.

Ron looked into the bag, down at the shining golden coins. And then he looked at the giant holes in the wall. And then he sighed.

Somehow, his mum would blame him and the twins for this.

* * *

"Give it up girl, there's nowhere to run!"

Shacklebolt mentally kicked himself in the head for the rather cliché spiel. Sure there was quite a ways to run. If the girl wasn't going to give up, they'd end up in Scotland by the time he started to wear down from the constant flying. That, or they'd be paying the Norwegian Ministry of Magic a visit. The girl seemed to show no tiring keeping up the self-levitation. Hell, it was almost a miracle she hadn't tired fourty five kilometers away. And at this speed of travel as well.

The Weasleys were another thing. Their chase had taken them throughout Ottery St. Catchpole and the girl had blown a huge hole in the upstairs bedrooms of the Burrow. Arthur would be mildly upset. Molly would blow her top. Kingsley decided right there that he'd be FAR away from the Burrow when all things were said and done.

The girl had refocused herself on speeding away. She was leaving quite the wake in her path. Fortunately the Firebolt was the current best model of broomstick in the Wizarding World offered to the populace.

The black man grinned. "C'mon girl, I promise we'll talk this over nicely!"

The girl looked back at him and a daring smirk was on her face. Her eyes danced with mirth somehow saying "Catch me if you can." Shacklebolt urged his Firebolt on and the pair zigged and zagged as they took it down closer into the trees.

Bursting out of the trees, Shacklebolt blinked and wished he had goggles. The sun was starting to set in the direction he was facing. Not only that, but they had crossed into the Hogwarts area of Scotland. If the girl was going to keep going, she'd crash right into the Hogsmeade Barrier.

The girl zoomed downwards where Shacklebolt could see the lights of Hogsmeade appearing. To his eyes, he could see the town before him. And he had a feeling the girl might as well. Fortunately there was no barrier, only anti-muggle charms laid on the place.

"C'mon, land already! I've had enough of this!"

* * *

"Man, he's persistent," remarked Hermione. She hadn't felt this windswept in a long time. The town below her started to glitter with the light of candles. Taking herself into a dive, she extended her senses. There were wards of course, but nothing as deliberating as the barrier around that small magical community.

Sure she broke the wards. What normal sorceress wouldn't want a challenge like that? The community wasn't very impressive by her standards. It was the standard look from Zephelia where she grew up. But what she didn't get was the state of sheer panic that the magical people went into when she broke them.

Zooming downward, she skimmed the landscape with the black guy following her. As she flew along the road towards Hogwarts, startling witches and wizards as she zoomed by, she pulled out her sword and sliced a heavy iron lamppost in half. The man lighting it yelped and toppled off his now unstable ladder. Shacklebolt dodged to the side neatly.

Zooming towards the large castle, Hermione smirked. Castles meant places to hide. And places to hide meant loot. Mum wouldn't be upset if she looted a few places while she was here.

* * *

Shacklebolt finally found the girl hovering in front of the doors. Before he could call out for her to stop, she fired a bolt of flames at it. The doors shuddered. A sickening sensation lurched his stomach. She was trying to break into Hogwarts!

As Shacklebolt zoomed down to intercept the girl, he stopped short at the flashing of live steel. Before he could cast a spell to disarm her, she had literally cut a hole in the thick doors of the ancient school. Zooming inside with a cheeky grin, she vanished into the depths of Hogwarts.

Shacklebolt picked his jaw up from the ground. "No... way..."

"Evenin' Shacklebolt," greeted Hagrid as he walked up with a chicken in his hands. He then stopped in shock as the half-giant stared in horror at the door. "What 'appened 'ere?"

"It's a long story," said Shacklebolt, feeling suddenly weary.

"It's Filch's problem now," said Hagrid as he handed Shacklebolt his bottle of amber liquid. Shacklebolt drank deeply and Hagrid sighed.

* * *

"Safe, for now." said Hermione as she trudged up the stairs. It wasn't too taxing to fly in this world. The mana flows were vastly untapped but easy to utilize.

As she rounded the corner, a silky voice muttered, "Well well, what do we have here? An intruder in the castle?"

Hermione spun. She then shrieked, "VAMPIRE!"

And the Vampire was set aflame.


End file.
